No Impact Experiment Conclusion

I have confession: I didn’t blog about Day7 and Day 8 of the No Impact Experiment. This was extremely difficult, because once I start a pattern of any kind, I have a lot of trouble NOT finishing, even if it ends up being a bad idea or a waste of time.

Now, after that little insight into my obsessive compulsive mind, I do want to point out that I didn’t NOT blog about Days 7 & 8 because it was a waste of time. Rather, I didn’t really participate in the final days because of circumstances beyond my control (plus it was my birthday and I took a break from pretty much everything).

Day 7 was supposed to be “Giving Back” day. Right now, I’m at the bottom of the impact pyramid at “Annually: Write a check” (although we give monthly to different causes). Giving money is nice, but it doesn’t fill the need I have inside to make a difference. In fact, I have been trying to get involved with non-profits since last year. I went through volunteer orientation at the Urban Ecology Center in Milwaukee and then nothing. I also emailed a soup kitchen in town offering my services. Again, no response. This week, I decided to take care of this once and for all and called the volunteer coordinator at the Waukesha Food Pantry. Unfortunately, it went to voicemail, so I left one. I haven’t heard back. I’m pretty determined to make this one work though, so I have on my list of things to do to call her again today. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Day 8 was called “Eco-Sabbath.” I love the idea (unplug, unwind, don’t drive, don’t buy, chillax). However, I had a 250 mile drive to make from my husband’s apartment in Decorah, IA to our apartment outside of Milwaukee, WI. I also had to go to the Co-op so we would have some food for the week. So, I’ll take my Eco-Sabbath some other day and it will be sweet!

Here are some random thoughts from this experiment:

I am nowhere near close to living completely sustainably.

This would have been easier in the summer.

Living sustainably in this country requires an enormous amount of mindfulness.

It is harder to live sustainably when your daily routine gets messed up by illness, travel, etc.

I am definitely more aware of my trash-making. For example, I avoid paper napkins and paper towels now. Just imagine if everybody in the country just cut down on this. It would have a huge impact!

Living sustainably is all about changing habits. Check out zenhabits.net for great tips on changing habits.

Next time I move, the presence of public transportation and bike lanes will be a huge deciding factor.